All The Time We'd Waste
by Bexish
Summary: What if Jess Mariano wasn't Jess Mariano? At present-day Yale, Rory's got her eye on a boy from a family we've come to know well through the series. Introducing (sort of) Jess Huntzberger.
1. Why Are You Running

A/N: I came across a post on Tumblr that said Logan was like the college version of Jess, and asked what Jess would've been like if he had been raised in Logan's situation. Or something similar to that. Anyway, I was intrigued. To be honest I have no idea where this is going to go but a friend told me I should try it out, so I'm trying it out. I hope that if you read it you're at least interested enough to stick around for a couple of chapters! The fic title and chapter titles are from Schuyler Fisk's "Tell Your Heart".

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><p>Despite many people on the internet claiming that college was nothing like you saw in the movies, Rory's freshman year was panning out almost exactly like she had expected it to. Okay, so she hadn't expected a palatial dorm room completely decked out in Emily Gilmore-approved furniture, but other than that she felt like the quintessential college kid. She had spent the first month of classes guzzling coffee and trying to keep up on all her homework while still having a little bit of fun, but if everything went well her school year was about to get a lot busier. It was the day that the editor of the Yale Daily News announced which freshmen had made the staff.<p>

Rory had been busting her ass for the last couple of weeks writing tryout pieces for the paper and in general, she thought they had been pretty good. Sure, her review of the first football game of the year was probably a little too vague for anyone who actually cared about football, but she knew she was a good writer. Unfortunately, so was everyone else that was trying to get on staff. She was up against high school newspaper editors and people who'd already had summer internships (in some cases, more than one) at hometown papers. When she compared herself to those kids, she got the urge to cross her fingers.

As Rory stood with the nineteen other hopeful journalists, she gave Paris a sideways glance. Paris was her good friend now, but she was also still her biggest competition when it came to the paper. If she was to be believed (and Paris wasn't one to lie), she had been working her tail off all summer as an assistant at the Hartford Courant and had picked up a lot of tricks of the trade. She was the person who worried Rory the most, because there was no winning when it came to Paris. If Rory made the paper and Paris didn't, Paris would be a nightmare to live with all year. If Paris made the paper and Rory didn't, Paris would be a nightmare to live with all year. And if they both made the paper things could very quickly get contentious, and then they would both be nightmares to live with all year.

Doyle, the editor of the Daily News, was nice enough but could get incredibly self-important when it came to his duties as editor. After calling all of the freshmen over, he spent ten minutes talking about how he was going to be the best editor the Daily News had ever seen and how a handful of them would be lucky enough to work under him. Since he seemed light years away from actually telling them who would be on staff, Rory allowed herself to get a little distracted. Sitting at a desk at the back of the room was someone she had never noticed before. Since he was typing away and wasn't standing around like cattle she guessed he was a staff member already. Whatever he was doing, he looked incredibly determined. He was kind of cute, Rory decided, in a dark and mysterious sort of way. She wondered what he was working on.

"Rory Gilmore," Doyle said, looking at her expectantly. She tore her eyes away from the guy and looked at Doyle. He always looked serious, even when he was angry, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. "I want to see what you can do. Consider yourself part of the Daily News."

She felt herself blush, even though she was turning cartwheels inside. Though she liked to think she was optimistic, she was actually more of a realist when it came to the things she wanted. Rory knew that she was a good candidate for the paper, but a little voice in the back of her head kept telling her that it probably wouldn't happen. But here she was a writer for the Daily News. She didn't dare look at anyone else in the group for fear that she would be met with hostile looks from those who hadn't made the staff. She didn't even look at Paris, since she hadn't been paying attention to whether or not her name had been called.

Rory wasn't left wondering for long. As soon as Doyle told them all they could go, Paris turned to her and grabbed her arm. "I knew we'd do it," she said fervently. "We're going to crush those other kids."

"Paris, I don't think we need to crush them," Rory said. "We're all working together."

"Oh, you think that now," Paris said, scoffing. "Just wait and tell me how you feel when Doyle announces what beats we'll be on."

Rory hadn't even thought about that. She had always liked writing features best in high school and was hoping she'd get the features beat, but hadn't considered that several other people might want it too. "You're not going for features, are you?" she asked Paris.

Paris rolled her eyes. "No, Rory, I don't want the puff pieces. I want religion, you know that." Truth be told, Rory had no idea Paris had a particular interest in religion, but it made sense. If anyone could put the fear of God into someone, it was Paris Geller.

As the two of them chatted, the guy working at his desk had begun to pack up his stuff. He hesitated as he walked toward them, probably debating whether or not he should actually talk to the new kids. "Welcome to the paper," he said, nodding at them. "See you guys Monday."

"What do you do here?" Paris demanded before he could make his escape.

"I'm the features editor," he said, shifting the leather laptop bag on his shoulder.

Paris shot Rory a meaningful look. "Well, I'm Paris and this is Rory. She's interested in features, too."

"Paris," Rory said under her breath, as the guy looked her over. She didn't need her friend trying to talk her up to the editor, especially when he probably had nothing to do with who would be on his beat anyway. "Hi," she said to the guy, hoping she wouldn't seem like a pathetic suck-up now that she knew what he did. "Well, we should get going. See you next week…"

"Jess," he supplied. "I'm Jess."


	2. What Everybody Hopes For

"Just tell me!"

"No," Rory said, knocking on her grandparents' door later that evening. "If I tell you now, you'll just blurt it out before I can tell Grandma and Grandpa myself. Won't it be more fun if I tell you all at the same time?"

Lorelai gave her a Look. "Nice try, but no." She drained the rest of her to-go cup as the maid ushered them in. "Okay, quick. Tell me something you're not going to tell my parents so I can feel like I'm still coming out on top."

"You're always on top," Rory assured her. "And do not say 'dirty', it's too easy and that's gross."

"Hey, how do you think you were made, little girl?"

Rory shuddered. "Please, spare me. You know, I was going to tell you something about my day but now I'm not so sure. I might wait until after dinner."

"No, tell me now!" Lorelai said, grabbing her arm. "Quick, before my mo—"

"Tell you what?" Emily asked, joining them in the foyer. "Why are you girls still standing out here? Come sit down."

Lorelai and Rory followed her into the living room, sitting on the couch across from her. As Emily poured drinks at her typical leisurely pace Rory thought she would burst. She was dying to tell them about getting on the paper, but her Grandpa still wasn't there and she didn't want to make him feel left out. So far nothing exceptionally interesting had happened at school, so she was excited to finally have something real to tell her family for once. She could only talk about the paper she was working on or her reading for class for so long before everyone kind of tuned out.

"Where's Dad?" Lorelai asked, swirling her martini around in her glass. "Rory's got some big deal news that she won't tell me until she tells you guys too."

"He's upstairs," Emily said, glancing toward the staircase. "Richard, the girls are here! And they've got news!"

"Just Rory has news," Lorelai corrected. "My life is the same as always. I go to the inn, the strip club, and then home. It's not much of a routine, but it's all I have now that Rory is gone."

"Drink your martini, Lorelai," Emily said, her attention on her granddaughter. "Your Grandpa will be down any minute," she told Rory. "So, what kind of news is it? Something about one of your classes? A new friend, perhaps?" She said "friend" with a special emphasis, and Rory knew she wouldn't be interested in hearing about the girl down the hall who had invited her to marathon Arrested Development on Netflix.

"It's just news," Rory said blandly, looking up the stairs. "In a few minutes, everyone will know."

"Can't believe you didn't tell me before we got here," Lorelai muttered, sipping her drinking. Rory elbowed her in the side.

After what felt like an hour, Richard finally came downstairs. "I was just on a business call, but I'm done for the evening now. Nice to see you as always, girls."

Rory and Lorelai waved as he prepared a drink for himself. "Richard, I told you the girls had news," Emily said.

"Well, I was on a very important call and now that it's done we can get on to the very important news," he said, unflappable as always. "Rory, Lorelai, continue."

"Well," Rory started. "You guys know that I've been doing a lot of tryout articles for the Daily News in the last couple of weeks." She took a drink of her Coke, kind of enjoying seeing her mom squirm. Rory knew she was absolutely dying to know what was coming next and it was kind of fun to draw it out a little bit. "Well, today the editor decided which freshmen would be on staff. And…"

"Oh, you're part of the Daily News!" Emily exclaimed. Lorelai turned to her daughter and punched her in the arm.

"Ow," Rory muttered. Lorelai ignored her.

"I can't believe you didn't call me earlier!"

Rory shrugged. "I wanted to tell you all at once. I thought it would make it more exciting."

"It's very exciting," Richard said. "Next week we'll have to have a special dinner to celebrate."

"Tacos!" Lorelai said excitedly. Her parents just stared at her.

"Yes, well, I think we'll let Rory pick," Richard said, nonplussed.

"I won't pick tacos," Rory assured him as they headed to the dining room. Rory couldn't picture her grandpa eating tacos. Authentic tacos might be acceptable, but the Gilmore girls had no use for authentic tacos. They were all about extra cheese and sour cream.

Dinner was a lot more fun than usual that night, with everyone in a good mood for once. Emily even let the maid pour a little wine for Rory, although she pushed her glass away after one sip because drinking red wine was like drinking sand. As far as she could tell, the bitter flavors in the wine did nothing to compliment meal. Dessert was good, though. Rory didn't even mind all of the fruit on her shortcake.

"So, the Daily News!" Lorelai said on the drive home. "That's very exciting. What was that other thing you were going to tell me when we first got there?"

"Mom!"

"What?" she said with a shrug. "Of course you made staff. You're the best writer Yale has. I'm very proud of you. And now that my parents are not around, I want to know what you were going to tell me and not them."

"It's really killing you not knowing, huh?"

"If you don't tell me in the next minute I'm going to have to pull over so you can drive, because my tears will be too thick to see through."

"You're very dramatic today," Rory said. Not that it was new. Lorelai wouldn't be Lorelai without a flair for the dramatic. "But since I don't want to make you cry, I guess I can tell you that I met a cute guy today. Nothing major," she continued quickly, wanting to head off a barrage of questions. "We literally only introduced ourselves. He's the features editor for the Daily News."

"Features editor, huh?" Lorelai asked, raising her eyebrows. "Aren't features what you always did at Chilton?"

"Sometimes," Rory said. "The Daily News is really competitive, though. Who knows what I'll end up working on. Jess and I might not even cross paths."

"Or you and Jess might end up working very, very closely," Lorelai suggested much too salaciously for Rory's liking. She rolled her eyes. She had only met Jess a few hours ago, and they hadn't even said more to each other besides "hi". Between her mom and Paris, it seemed like Rory was the only person who wasn't getting ahead of herself. He probably wouldn't even remember her on Monday.


	3. In The First Place

A/N: I'm glad people have shown interest in this story! It'll be fun to see where it goes, hopefully. I'm going to try to get a new chapter up for my other Literati story tonight too, if you're reading along there :)

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><p>Rory went through her classes on Monday slightly distracted. She was thinking about her first day as an official staff member of the Yale Daily News, yes, but she was also thinking about Jess.<p>

It was stupid, really. She hadn't said more than hi to the guy. There was a good chance he wouldn't even remember her name if she talked to him again. And on the off chance that he did, it would probably come up in conversation that he had a girlfriend. It seemed like everyone at Yale had a girlfriend or boyfriend (with the exception of Tanna, but she was a little bit odd). Listening to Paris and Janet talk about their boyfriends was almost enough to make Rory wish she had stayed with her high school boyfriend, Dean. They had dated for almost three years, but in the end Dean's insecurity about Rory going off to college had been a deal breaker. Their split had been amicable and she didn't even miss him all that much, but it would've been nice to be able to say "hey, I've got a boyfriend too!"

The idea of dating in college kind of freaked Rory out. Meeting Dean had been a total fluke since he was new to Stars Hollow, which had worked out well for her. She was friendly with people in her classes and around the dorm, but Rory wasn't exactly a master of social relationships. When you were constantly surrounded by new people, how did you form a romantic relationship? She supposed she could just go up to a guy and ask him out since it wasn't 1952 anymore, but the idea of doing that made her stomach flip. Rory hadn't been at Yale long, but she knew that a lot of people who weren't still attached to a high school sweetheart were more into hooking up. She was not a hook up kind of girl. Despite its obvious flaws, Rory thought there was something sort of sweet in the courtship system the Duggars had. Boy and girl meet and fall in love and get married. Of course, marathoning 19 Kids and Counting was liable to severely injure your brain and judgment.

As long as Rory was constantly hanging out in her dorm room bingeing on Netflix and doing homework, she probably didn't have to worry about anyone asking her out with the intention of hooking up with her. It all felt so complicated to her. She missed having a boyfriend, but she was reluctant to open herself up to that kind of social interaction. Rory hadn't realized it before coming to college, but despite dating Dean for three years she was incredibly inexperienced in the boy department. Most people did not have the same boyfriend all throughout high school. Janet was with her high school boyfriend, but they had only gotten together right before prom so it was still a pretty new relationship. One night she had dragged Paris to a party on another floor and after a couple of beers, they started talking about their boyfriends and their… _experiences_ and Rory had just sat quietly, blushing. Compared to them, she had felt like a giant prude.

Her mom and grandma had hinted around the topic of Rory dating, but she had just brushed them off. They didn't understand the college culture now. Lorelai had never been and her grandma had been about a hundred years ago, when women went to college to find an acceptable husband. If either of them spent ten minutes on campus they would realize that when it came to the social scene, kids were all about trying to find someone to hook up with on Friday night. Rory wasn't even sure what the parameters for "hooking up" were, but she could guess. All things considered, she'd rather read a book. That had kind of been her mantra at Yale so far while she tried to navigate the incredibly confusing social scene. Even so, she was definitely looking forward to going to the Daily News after class. She could avoid guys and messy relationships, but she could also admire Jess from afar.

"This is it," Paris said, catching up to Rory outside the news office. "The first day of the rest of our lives."

"I don't think we're going to be working at the Daily News for the rest of our lives, Paris," Rory pointed out. "The first day of the rest of our college lives, maybe."

Paris rolled her eyes. "Isn't this what you want to do after college, though? You're right about me, but this is kind of the first day of the rest of your life."

Rory knew it was a big day, but she hadn't considered it like that. It was a little scary. She had liked her time doing try out articles, but what if she hated actually working on the paper? She would have to find a new major. English, or accounting or something. "Well, should we go in?" she suggested, trying to peer into the office. There were only a few people there and Doyle wasn't there yet, but Rory liked being early.

"Yes," Paris said decisively, pushing the door open. People barely even looked at them. "Well, let's get to work, shall we?"

"We don't have any work yet," Rory pointed out. "I think we're going to have to wait for Doyle to get here."

For a few minutes they just stood around chatting about classes, which made Rory feel incredibly awkward. The people that were already there were clearly more senior staff members, because they were all busy at the computers with the exception of one girl who was playing Candy Crush on her iPhone. Paris noticed and rolled her eyes. "Completely unprofessional," she muttered.

"Paris, you bugged me for fifteen minutes last night until I got on Facebook and sent you more lives."

"Yes, but I wasn't supposed to be doing anything important then."

"Well, maybe she's new here too," Rory suggested. "If I wasn't here to talk to, what would you be doing right now?"

"Playing Candy Crush," Paris admitted. "Hey, there's Doyle."

Once Doyle came in, the activity in the room doubled. Half the people working got up to ask him questions and the other half started typing twice as fast. By the time Doyle got around to talking to Rory and Paris, the amount of people in the room had doubled. Rory loved the buzz in the room. Doyle didn't have a lot for them to do at that particular time which was kind of disappointing, but Rory was happy to just observe everyone else. By the time she and Paris headed home she was exhilarated by the thought of spending all her afternoons at the news office.

She hadn't even noticed that Jess never showed up.


	4. We Could Play Some Kind of Games

"I hate college!" Paris announced, slamming her laptop shut. Rory winced. She would've killed for a gorgeous Macbook Air like Paris had, but she and her mom were all about the PC prices. When Rory mentioned what a great computer it was, Paris had just shrugged and said it was a graduation present from her aunt and uncle. Since Rory didn't have any aunts or uncles, but if she did she was pretty sure they wouldn't be shelling out $1,000 for a graduation present for their niece. That was one part of the Yale culture Rory would never feel like she fit into. Yale was renowned for its academics, but it was also filled with rich legacy kids.

"What now?" Rory asked, not even looking up from her psychology textbook. Intro to Psych was not her favorite class, but it was one she had to take. Judging by her teacher's rather laissez-faire attitude toward attendance and grading things in a timely manner, it wasn't his favorite class either.

Paris sighed, opening her laptop again. "I'm going to fail out of college, not that you care."

It wasn't that Rory didn't care; it was just that Paris claimed she was going to fail out on a weekly basis. Rory was kind of used to it. And it was never Paris' fault, of course, so Rory never had any idea what she was supposed to say to make Paris feel better. "You are not going to fail," she said, trying to surreptitiously finish the paragraph she was on.

"I am going to fail," Paris said, pulling up her BlackBoard page. "Look at this! I got a 0 on my last sociology quiz. My idiot teacher tried to put the grade into a spot for a quiz we haven't even taken yet. If this doesn't get fixed, my final grade could be an entire percent lower." She started hammering the keyboard, no doubt sending an irate email to her teacher. "Honestly, why do they even let grad students teach classes? This is Yale, for God's sake, not some crackerjack community college."

"Paris, you know he'll fix the grade once he gets your email," Rory said, trying to sound calming. "It was an accident. Teachers make them all the time." Rory had already sent an email or two about her grades herself. The students had no problem navigating BlackBoard and emails, but most of her teachers were on the older side and had no use for these new technological advancements. One of her teachers kept all his grades in a fancy leather ledger and only updated BlackBoard once a month, so it was pretty much impossible for students to follow along with their scores. It was annoying, yes, but Rory didn't think it would cause her to fail out of college.

Paris muttered something unintelligible under her breath, but she stopped abusing her laptop. "So, are you ready for Monday?" she asked, mercifully changing the topic. Rory suppressed a sigh and put down her psych book.

"What's Monday?" she asked. She had a psych quiz, but she didn't think Paris was talking about that. Rory had tried keeping track of due dates and things on a calendar on her phone, but that system quickly fell apart when she tried to make a note about an upcoming quiz and entered the date in November instead of October. Now she dutifully wrote things down in an actual paper organizer, though she didn't remember having anything besides the quiz on Monday.

Paris gaped at her. "You're kidding me. Doyle said he's going to give us our assignments on Monday."

Rory's first official two weeks at the paper had been kind of disappointing. She hadn't gotten anything printed yet, since Doyle had assigned all the new kids fairly unimportant pieces so he could decide where to put them. Rory thought she had done a pretty good job when she got the chance to try out a features piece, and was hoping that she would be assigned to features. "Right, right. Sorry. It's been a crazy week. Do you think you'll get the religion beat?"

"I think I've got a chance," Paris said. "I considered praying to every god I've ever heard of, but that seemed like overkill."

"Just a tad," Rory said. "The section editors all seem great, though. No matter where we get put, we'll at least be working under good people."

Paris raised an eyebrow. "All of them, huh?"

"I don't know what you mean," Rory said blankly. Paris didn't fall for it.

"You've been starting at that Jess guy for two weeks now," Paris said. "You know, I've seen him looking at you, too. I bet he's already told Doyle to put you on features."

Rory waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, right," she said. "I haven't even talked to Jess since he introduced himself. I probably never even will."

"But he's cute though, right?" Paris said. Rory had a feeling Paris had never uttered the word cute in her life. "I mean, I personally don't go for that whole scruffy hipster-wannabe look myself, but if that's your thing then he's a good choice."

"What makes you think he's a hipster-wannabe?" Rory asked. She wasn't even sure what a hipster was, even though people tossed the word around all the time.

"Please, have you seen him? He can mess up his hair and wear all the ripped jeans he wants, but as long as he's walking around with that Armani laptop bag he's not fooling anyone."

"How can you tell it's Armani?" Rory asked. Paris looked at her like she had said something very dumb. "Hey, I don't know anything about fancy brands!" she said defensively.

"Trust me, it's Armani," Paris said. "Your boyfriend's got an $800 laptop bag and every pair of jeans Hugo Boss makes. If you brushed his hair and put him in a pair of khakis, he could pass for a Kennedy."

Paris got distracted by an article on the internet after that, but Rory was still thinking about what she said. Jess was cute, yes, but if Paris was right about him then he was way out of her league. Chilton had been full of rich kids just like Yale, but when they were all in uniforms and went home at the end of the day it was easy to forget that they weren't just like her. If Jess was another big shot legacy kid, there was no way he'd go for the small town girl in $30 sweater from Maurice's. It was probably for the best. If Rory did get the features beat, it would be best to keep things professional. Still, she had to admit she was a little disappointed. Even though she didn't know him at all, she had really felt like maybe, just maybe, there had been a spark when they met.


	5. Think Of All The Time We'd Waste

A/N: I probably should've clarified in the first chapter since there's been some confusion but the story is set in 2014 instead of 2004. I was like 11 in 2004 when Rory started college so I have absolutely no frame of reference what would've been cool in college then. I decided to stick with what I know instead, plus I like picturing Paris getting annoyed when people beat her Candy Crush scores on Facebook :)

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><p>Rory went to the paper on Monday expecting to be assigned to anything but the features beat. Things had been going well at the paper, but the thought of actually getting able to write her favorite type of stories was almost too much to hope for. Walking to the Daily News office was like ripping petals off a daisy. <em>Left foot, I get it. Right foot, I don't.<em> She was so focused on her footsteps that she didn't even notice someone trying to leave the office as she was walking in.

"Sorry," Rory said automatically, looking past them into the newsroom. Doyle wasn't there yet.

"Don't worry about it." It was Jess. Rory sort of wanted to melt into the floor. It was the first time she had talked to him in weeks and it was to apologize for nearly plowing him over. "Hey, don't tell Doyle I told you this, but you're on the features beat. I figure since I'll be your editor I could let it slip."

He smiled at her, but Rory didn't feel as excited as she should have. "Are you sure you've got the right person?" They had only officially met the once, after all. He could have been confusing her with almost anyone.

"Paris Geller, right? I'm kidding!" he added as she just stared at him. "You've been here for a few weeks, Rory. Of course I recognize you."

"You mean I really get to do features?" she said, her excitement building. "That's great!"

It wasn't just about the features, though. Jess had recognized her. There was really no reason for him not to, since they had been introduced, but Rory had just figured he would forget about her. She was a new freshman, after all. There were a dozen people like her on the paper. And yet he remembered her, and made a point to tell her the good news before Doyle did. It was probably just because they had bumped into each other, Rory reasoned, but it was nice anyway. Rory watched him as he walked down the hall. Despite what Paris had said about his family probably being well-off, he was wearing beat up Converse not unlike the pair she had back in her room. A guy who wore ratty canvas sneakers couldn't be preoccupied with money, right?

As she settled in at her desk, she was aware of a bubbly sort of feeling building up in her chest. Was this what it was like having a full-blown crush? She hadn't known Dean for very long before they started dating and things had always felt comfortable between them, like they had known each other forever. She'd never really felt the butterflies there. She had loved him and they'd had a good relationship, yes, but he'd never given her that silly head-over-heels feeling. Maybe that's what this was.

She considered asking Paris what she thought about her potential crush, but Paris would probably just say she was being stupid since Paris usually told her she was being stupid. There was always Janet, since she had plenty of experience with guys, but Janet frequently said things that made her want to blush. She would probably advise Rory just to jump on him if she liked him. A call to her mom might be in order. This was the kind of thing she usually talked to her mom about, after all. However, Rory couldn't help but feel like her mom was a tiny bit disappointed that she and Dean had broken up. Lorelai had really liked Dean. He was helpful and kind and never complained about the movies they liked to watch during movie nights. Over the three years that they had been together he'd kind of become a part of the family. Rory hoped that her mom's excitement over a new guy would outweigh her feelings towards Dean.

She was about to send a text to her mom saying she'd call her later when Doyle announced that he was going to give them their assignments. Rory already knew that she was on features, so she watched Paris carefully as Doyle went through the list. She accepted her position on the religion beat with grace, but Rory could see her eyes light up. She gave her a quick thumbs up, but Paris was already on her way to talk to the religion editor.

"So, what do you want to write about?" Jess asked, walking up to her desk.

Rory was taken aback. Doyle had been assigning her specific pieces, so she hadn't been expecting that question. "I can just pick something?"

Jess shrugged. "I'm not into micromanaging. Write something good and we'll run it." Rory looked around to see if Doyle was listening, but Jess didn't seem too concerned.

"You know Doyle expects the Daily News to be the New York Times of the college set, right?"

"Doyle's got delusions of grandeur," Jess said. "We're a daily paper run by college students who have a million other things going on. Sometimes good enough is good enough."

Rory wasn't sure she agreed with that since she always had the overwhelming feeling that she had to do the best possible job on everything academic, but he had a did have a point. She had two papers due next week, and now she'd have an article on top of that. "Well, my article will definitely be good enough to run," she said.

"Can you keep a secret?" Jess asked. Rory nodded, feeling a little nervous. "Between you and me, some of the more senior feature writers aren't that great. If you can give me good articles, I'll give you the good assignments."

"I thought you weren't into micromanaging," Rory said, surprised that she was able to come up with a response so quickly.

"Well, you don't seem like someone who needs me to hold your hand every time you get an assignment," Jess shot back.

"I'm not."

"Then we should be good," Jess said, turning to walk back to his own desk.

Rory half-heartedly tried to think of things she could write about for her first real story, but she was distracted. Jess had gone around to talk to the other people who had been assigned to features, but he didn't seem to talk to any of them for very long. His conversation with her probably didn't mean anything, but she kept thinking about it anyway. She barely knew Jess, but she had to admit that there was a distinct possibility that she was totally falling for him.


	6. So Tell Your Heart

"I think I met someone interesting," Rory blurted out. After she got home from the paper she called her mom and after twenty minutes of perfunctory talk about school and the paper, she just had to get the real issue off her chest.

"Someone interesting," Lorelai repeated, sounded much more into the conversation than she had been when Rory was telling her about her lit paper. "How interesting?"

"I didn't give him a number on a scale or anything," Rory said. "But I would say pretty interesting. He's on the paper with me. Actually, he's the features editor."

Lorelai laughed. "Rory, you cannot go after your editor! That's probably majorly frowned upon."

"Whoa, who said anything about going after him?" Rory asked. "He's just nice."

"Nice isn't enough to qualify as interesting."

"Fine, he's nice _looking_."

"There you go," Lorelai said approvingly. "So, what's his name?"

"Jess."

Lorelai snorted. "Jess? That's not much of a name. What's his last name?"

"I don't know," Rory said, realizing she had never heard it before. "I don't know him very well. I've only talked to him like twice."

Rory could almost picture her mom shaking her head. "You've talked to him twice and you're already calling me about him? You didn't tell me about Dean until after he'd already asked you out."

"I like to be sure about things," Rory objected. "But like you said, I can't date my editor so nothing is going to come of it anyway. I just thought I would fill you in on my life in college."

"I appreciate that," Lorelai said. "But hon—and I mean this in the nicest possible way—don't you think that you should try to meet some boys you can date? If you're interested in dating someone, that is. I don't want to see you get all hung up on some guy you'll never get a chance with."

Her mom had a point. Rory _was _interested in getting to know more boys. She wasn't into the crazy hookup scene, but she'd missed out on a lot of normal experiences by having a relationship nearly the whole time she was in high school. It was time to catch up, although not as aggressively as some of her classmates were. If she spent all her time having a ridiculous crush on Jess she was never going to get anywhere with a perfectly eligible guy. She had met a guy named Marty during a party on her floor the first week of school and they'd talked a little since then. He was nice. He wasn't quite as alluring as Jess, but he liked watching old I Love Lucy episodes and breakfast foods, which meant they had a few things in common. "You're right," Rory said. "There are a lot of other guys here."

"Trust me on this one: there will always be a lot of other guys. I like that you're interested in actually meeting some other guys, though. You were with Dean for years. It was unnatural."

"Mom!"

"Well, no one I knew in high school dated the same guy for three years!" Lorelai argued. "And that was back in the early 1990s when it was still cool to be going steady. You know I liked Dean, but I was very surprised that you two lasted as long as you did."

"After three years it all comes out," Rory said, shaking her head. "I thought you liked me and Dean being together, but it turns out I'm just a freak." She was joking, but she really was surprised. Her mom had seemed genuinely upset when she and Dean broke up and she had been anticipating it all along.

"Of course you're not a freak! You are smart and beautiful and Dean was dumb to not try to hold on to you," Lorelai said. "I'm just saying, I like that you want to meet new people and broaden your horizons a little bit."

Rory sighed. It was somehow disheartening being cheered on by her mom. She shouldn't have needed her mom to be her personal dating cheerleader. "This isn't going to turn into a safe sex talk, is it? I'm really not in the mood for that today."

"No lectures," Lorelai promised. "As long as you don't have sex until you're 25. No, 30. And married."

"Deal." Rory tried to think of a change of subject, but she couldn't. "Man, I did not expect to tell you about a cute guy and have you tell me _not _to go for him."

"I like cute guys as much as the next person, but there are lines that are not meant to be crossed. No co-workers, especially superiors." The rule must have served her well, since Rory couldn't remember her mom ever dating anyone from the inn. She did have a dream once where Michel was her step-father, but she wrote it off as a nightmare.

"So, are there any cute guys on your horizon?" Rory asked.

"No, no cute guys," Lorelai said. "Who needs cute guys when you have your own fabulous inn, though?"

"Grandpa's new business partner was looking at you an awful lot when he showed up at dinner last week," Rory suggested.

Lorelai made a choking noise. "Jason? No way. I can't date someone that my parents know! Besides, there are too many ridiculous summer camp memories there. I hadn't seen the guy in twenty years."

"Then we'll both have to be on the lookout for different cute boys," Rory said. They chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up. Before Lorelai would let Rory go she made her promise again to focus on people besides Jess, and Rory agreed. Starting right then, Jess was going to be her editor and nothing more. She wouldn't waste any more time thinking about how cute he was, or wondering what he was like outside the paper. No, Rory was done with Jess.

She kept her word for nearly 24 hours. Then Jess asked her out.


	7. You Shouldn't Be Afraid

A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger! Well, not really since I did it on purpose, but I apologize for the wait. So here it is, Jess asking Rory out.

Rory only stopped by the paper on Tuesday afternoon to look up a few a few old copies of the Daily News to see what kind of things they usually ran in the features section this time of year. She had thought of profiling a few students from other countries, but would that be interesting or tired and cliché? She could have asked Doyle or Jess, of course, but she wanted to show that she could make these kinds of decisions on her own. Even though there were quite a few freshmen on staff, Rory didn't want to act like one. She wanted to write articles on provocative topics and blow everyone away, and she wanted to do it without asking her editors their opinion on every little thing.

By the time Rory opened the paper's online database, she had already decided against profiling foreign students. If she saw that in a paper she would certainly read it, but she had to admit it didn't have much of a draw. People probably just wouldn't care. As she skimmed through some headlines for the previous year, she tried to think about what was relevant. What did 2014 have that no other year had? She wasn't sure. But she was going to find out.

"Working hard already? Your first article isn't due for a week, you know."

"Monday at 3pm, I know," Rory said, not looking up. When she did, she wanted to swallow her own tongue. She hadn't been at the paper long enough to recognize everyone by voice alone and she had come off sounding a lot more annoyed than she should have since she was talking to her editor. "Jess, hi. Sorry, it's just been a long day. I'm actually looking at older issues of the paper to see what kind of stuff you typically run this time of year. I don't want to do something that's been done a million times. How many years in a row does the paper need to report that girls still want to be cats and guys still want to be superheroes for Halloween?"

"Maybe this could be the year we don't," Jess said. "Superheroes, huh? Looks like I'm going to have to find a new Halloween costume if everyone does it."

Rory blushed. Why did she keep doing that around Jess? It made her feel—and probably look—like an idiot. "You're dressing up for Halloween? Got some trick-or-treating to do?" At least what she was saying didn't match how ridiculous she felt. Remembering what her mom said she took a deep breath. She was not interested in Jess.

"Actually, my buddy Finn is having a Halloween party and we all have to come in costume," Jess said. "It took a few of us to convince him that 'Naked and Afraid' wasn't a good theme for a party, but we got him there in the end. I think it's Stephen King themed now, but he'll probably change his mind a few more times before then."

"Oh, come on," Rory said. "'Naked and Afraid'? Bad reality shows always make for good party themes. And that's one of the better reality shows for a theme."

"So you'd go to a party where everyone was naked and afraid?"

There was that blushing again. "Probably not," she admitted. She couldn't even imagine walking into a room filled with naked people. She hadn't even liked changing in front of the other girls in gym in high school, and no one was naked there.

"That's good. Would you go to dinner with me Saturday night?" It took Rory a second to realize he was actually asking her to go to dinner with him and not just as a hypothetical scenario.

"Dinner?" she asked lamely.

"You know, a meal you eat in the evening? Sometimes at a restaurant?"

"Oh, that dinner," Rory said, her mind doing cartwheels. She wanted to say yes. It wasn't every day that a cute boy asked her out to dinner. But her mom had a point. If things were weird at dinner and they decided they weren't interested in each other it could make their interactions at the paper uncomfortable.

But what if that didn't happen? What if dinner was amazing, and they wanted to keep seeing each other? Or what if things were kind of awkward at dinner, but they became good friends? Even though her mom's advice had been good, she knew she would regret not giving Jess a change. "You know what?" she said. "I would love to go out to dinner with Saturday night."

"I know a good place," Jess said, clearly pleased with her answer. "Have you been to Rich Man's Shoe? It's kind of a pub, but their burgers are really good. We can go somewhere else if you want, though."

"I love burgers," Rory said enthusiastically. "Rich Man's Shoe sounds great. I've never been there before."

"It's close, too, if you don't mind walking a little," Jess said. "How about I swing by your dorm around 7 or so?"

"Great," Rory said. "That sounds great. I'm in Durfee, suite five."

"I'll be there," Jess said. "I've got to get back to work, but will you be here tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Rory said, even though she hadn't planned on going into the paper. Jess smiled at her before he walked away and Rory flashed him a grin back. She was a little flustered, but happy. Maybe he was her editor, but he was also a cute guy who'd asked her on a date. A real date. He hadn't invited her to some anonymous party or something. He'd asked her out to dinner, for a specific time on a specific day. Maybe dating wasn't dead after all. She couldn't wait to tell Paris and Lane that she was actually going on a date.

Telling her mom, on the other hand, would be a different story. She just hoped Lorelai hadn't been too serious when she told her not to date someone she worked with. Maybe she would tell her at Friday night dinner. She couldn't get too upset with witnesses, right?


	8. I Am So In Love With You

Even though Rory showed up at the paper on Wednesday afternoon, Jess didn't. She was disappointed, but it gave her a chance to find out a little more about him. With a little snooping on the database, she turned up his last name. Her next step was to look him up on Facebook, but he didn't seem to have one. Jess didn't seem to have any social media presence at all that she could find, although there was a possibility he did and was just being extra careful to be anonymous. That was interesting. It seemed like everyone and their mother was on Twitter or Tumblr nowadays, and having a Facebook was practically a requirement for being a modern human. Jess was certainly making himself out to be an enigma. It was intriguing, to say the least.

Thursday came and went so quickly that Rory didn't even have time to think about Jess. She spent the afternoon writing a paper that was due on Monday and her evening studying for a test she had the next day, so stopping by the paper to look for Jess was out of the question. The idea of not seeing him until their date on Saturday made her a little nervous. What if he completely forgot that he even asked her out and never showed up? Or worse, what if he simply found something better to do? If he was friends with someone who thought a party filled with naked people was a good idea, he was probably used to hanging out with people a lot more wild than she was. How could having dinner at a pub compare to a blow-out theme party?

She was ashamed to admit it, but after having those thoughts she was too nervous to even go into the paper on Friday, even though she wanted to run her story by someone before she submitted it for real. She settled for emailing it to Doyle for his opinions on it, which wasn't entirely successful. He just emailed her back asking why she didn't run it by Jess instead and that certainly wasn't going to happen. She was already convinced Jess would bail on the date; she didn't want him to possibly turn down her article too. Instead of emailing him, she turned her attention back to the paper she had due, which was a welcome distraction until she had to leave for Friday night dinner.

Rory liked seeing her grandparents, but dinners when her grandpa was out of town were always kind of tricky. Lorelai was typically on her version of her best behavior, which meant being as playfully antagonizing as possible. Running interference could get tiring, especially without her grandpa to back her up. She had been planning to tell her mom and grandma about her date to keep the peace, but as she pulled up to the elder Gilmore's house that seemed like a terrible idea. Lorelai had already told her that going out with Jess was a terrible idea, and ever since she had broken up with Dean her grandma had been positively starved for information on her social life. When Rory had mentioned studying with Marty a couple of weeks ago she had gotten a very unsettling sparkle in her eye and asked every possible question about him. Most of Rory's answers weren't sufficient, since she wasn't privy to his family tree dating back to the turn of the 20th century or his transcripts since kindergarten. And that was after making it very clear that Marty was just a friend. God only knew what she would ask about Jess.

The drinks portion of the evening went by relatively smoothly, since Rory talked for as long as she possibly could about the article she was working on. Since Lorelai had already heard all about it, she looked practically euphoric when the maid announced it was time for dinner. "Great, I'm starved," she announced, popping up from the couch. As they followed Emily into the dining room, Lorelai nudged Rory. "You forget how to have a conversation, kid? You know I love your writing, but that was a straight up monologue."

Rory just shrugged. "I'm saving some of my material," she said. Lorelai gave her a curious look, but let it pass. For a little while they busied themselves with their salad. Lorelai made a huge production out of moving the avocado slices to the side of her place, heaving a huge sigh with each piece.

"Really, Lorelai," Emily said. "I thought you'd like the salad! Chelsea called it a California Cobb salad. Of course, I had her omit the turkey," she added thoughtfully. "Turkey with a salad course? I know a salad can make a proper meal if done right, but what's the point of sitting down to dinner in the dining room if you only have one course?"

"Well, it's over faster," Lorelai said. When Emily narrowed her eyes at her, she gave her mom a winning grin. "I do like the bacon though. That was a good idea."

"Bacon is great," Rory chimed in. "It's not on things often enough."

"Or in my mouth often enough," Lorelai added.

"Lorelai, do you have to be so crass?" Emily asked tiredly, taking a sip of wine.

Lorelai was the picture of wide-eyed innocence. "We're just talking about bacon, Mom."

"Hey, I've got a date tomorrow night," Rory said abruptly, trying to bring an end to the bacon talk. It seemed like as good a time as any, and if she didn't say something before Chelsea brought out the main course she would probably lose her nerve.

"Oh, your first college date!" Emily said, looking almost as excited as she had when Rory told her about getting into Yale. "That's very exciting."

"Is it with Marty?" Lorelai asked. "I told you he was probably a great guy once you looked past the naked incident."

Rory shook her head. "Actually, it's with Jess."

Lorelai's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Jess? Rory…"

"It'll be fine, I swear," she said quickly. "Jess works with me on the paper," she added, noticing her grandma's confusion.

"You should have a lot in common then," Emily said. Rory appreciated that at least one person didn't think she was making a terrible mistake.

Rory nodded. "I hope so."

"Okay, I'll look past the paper thing for a minute," Lorelai said. "Last time we talked about him, you didn't even know his last name."

"I found out though," she said. "It's Huntzberger."

Emily looked up from the plate the maid had just set in front of her. "Huntzberger? Mitchum and Shira's son?"

"Uh, sure," Rory said. She had no idea what his parents' names were or even where he was from, but she figured Huntzberger wasn't a super common last name.

"We've been acquainted with the Huntzbergers for many years," Emily said. "They're a fine family."

Lorelai groaned. "Did you hear that, Rory? You've got a date with a guy from a 'fine family'."

If Jess was indeed from the Huntzberger family that her grandparents knew, that meant Paris was right about him. Jess was from a world of money and unending privilege, which was not something Rory could really relate too. Hopefully being on the paper together was enough of a common interest, because otherwise she would be entirely out of her league. She gulped down a bite of chicken, quickly taking a sip of water to avoid having to say anything. She'd thought that once she told her family about the date some of her nerves would go away, but now there were twice as many. She could brush off Paris' assumptions that he was from a completely different world than her, but having it confirmed was something different. Lorelai could groan about it good-naturedly, but for Rory it felt like it could really complicate things.

"I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time, Rory," Emily said encouragingly. She really hoped her grandma was right.


	9. I Should Be Ashamed

A/N: To make up for not actually writing about their date in the last chapter, I present to you a Very Special double chapter, with twice as many words and approximately five times as much Jess. I hope you like it!

* * *

><p>Rory started to feel nauseous around six on Saturday night. Paris tried to get her to breathe into a paper bag or take a Xanax, but Rory settled for pouring a massive cup of coffee and picking at her nail polish. She had never been the best at waiting for things, and waiting for her date proved to be incredibly nerve-wracking. As each minute passed, she was a little more convinced that Jess wasn't going to show up. There was absolutely no logic or reason behind that thought, but she feared it nonetheless.<p>

At 6:52, someone knocked on the door. Rory's heart immediately jumped into her throat. She had been looking out the window regularly to see if she could spot Jess, but he must have snuck by when she wasn't paying attention. "Paris, answer the door," Rory hissed.

Paris shook her head, but got off the couch and headed to the door. "You're pathetic," she said. Rory couldn't argue with that. She tried to calm down as Paris opened the door. "Hi, Jess."

"Hey," Jess said. Rory considered escaping to her bedroom and hiding, but Jess could see her from the door and would probably notice if she didn't come out of her bedroom.

"I was just putting my shoes on," Rory said, hoping that would explain why she had sent her roommate to the door instead of answering it herself. Never mind the fact that she had put her shoes on almost an hour ago. "I'm ready to go now, though."

"Great," Jess said, looking at her a little quizzically. For a moment Rory almost panicked again. Had he shown up to cancel or talk about the paper instead of go out to dinner? "You might want to grab a jacket though," he continued. "It's pretty cold out."

Rory looked down at the tank top she was wearing. She had spent half an hour trying to pick out a sweater to wear and then in the process of getting dressed she had forgotten to actually put it on. "Right. I'll be right back." As fast as she could, she ducked into her room and pulled the sweater on, cursing herself for looking like such a dork. She put her shoes on an hour early but couldn't even get dressed properly.

"Ready for real?" Jess asked when she came out of her room. She nodded, pleased to see that he was dressed casually. He was in jeans and sneakers like her and was wearing a gray zip up sweatshirt. Rory thought he looked pretty great. Hopefully he thought the same thing about her.

As they walked to the restaurant they talked a little bit about the paper, but Rory tried to steer the conversation away from actual work. Even though they were both on the paper and he was her editor, she didn't want to spend the whole evening talking about the state of the article she was working on. "So has Doyle always been so…?"

"Wound up?" Jess suggested. Rory nodded. "Since day one at the paper. We were both assigned to the news beat and he had enough energy for the entire staff. He was the first one at the scene of anything newsworthy, even if he wasn't covering it. I'm not surprised he's editor now. If he doesn't end up at the New York Times or somewhere I think his head will actually explode."

Rory laughed. She could definitely see that happening. "So what drew you to the paper? Are you secretly vying for Doyle's future spot at the Times?"

Jess shrugged. "I don't think so," he said as they walked up to Rich Man's Shoe. "I like the paper and everything but I don't think journalism is for me, you know? I just joined the Daily News because my dad wanted me to."

Being on staff, especially as an editor, was a big commitment for someone who wasn't really into journalism. Rory definitely made a note to bring it up again during dinner. For a few minutes they were occupied with finding a table and getting their menus. Once their waitress delivered their drinks, Jess switched topics. "So, you have big Halloween plans next week?"

"Oh, sure," Rory said. "Trick-or-treating is my favorite."

"My buddy Finn is having a party," Jess said with a laugh. "I talked him into making it American Horror Story themed. Now I'm pretty sure that means half the girls will show up as the young version of the maid from Murder House, but it should be fun. I think he's bought out every liquor store in the greater New Haven area." He looked at her expectantly.

"Sounds fun," Rory said, taking a sip of her Coke. "Very appropriate theme."

Jess looked amused. "I was thinking you could come with me."

Rory probably should've put that together sooner, but she was still surprised. "You want me to go to a party with you?"

"If you want," Jess said. "It's a costume thing, but you could probably just wear anything and say you're Violet or someone. Have you seen American Horror Story?"

"Yes," Rory said. "Has Finn, though? There isn't a lot going on in the way of costumes, unless you want to be a maid or a nun or something."

"I don't think he has, actually," Jess said. "He'll forget about the costume thing after a couple of drinks, though."

"I'm not a big drinker," Rory said uncertainly. That was a big understatement. The closest she'd ever come to having a drink was taking a sip of Miss Patty's punch once. Her mom had been trying to warn her against drinking, and it had worked. It was like sipping on poison.

Jess didn't look concerned. "You don't have to drink," he said. "I'm sure there will be at least a couple of people there not drinking. Or not drinking much. Someone has to drive home."

"Right," Rory said, though she still wasn't sure why Jess even wanted her to come with him. She wouldn't know anyone at the party besides him, and she had a feeling there wouldn't be a lot of other freshmen at the party. She didn't want to stick out.

"Hey, just an idea," Jess said, sensing her hesitation. "I know it sounds like a big thing, but it'll be pretty relaxed. My friends are cool. They'll like you."

Meeting Jess' friends sounded a little scary. If Jess was from a "fine family" like her grandma said, that meant he was probably friends with people in similar situations. Rory had nothing against wealthy people or legacy students, but she always felt like they could tell she didn't quite belong with them. She was like Bargain Mart to their Bloomingdale's. In the back of her mind, though, she could almost hear her mom chastising her. College was about making friends and meeting new people. She was going to turn down a party with a cute guy just because she was worried she wouldn't fit in? How would she ever know if she didn't try?

The waitress came back to take their order before Rory could answer, but she felt a lot more calm after she ordered her bacon double burger and fries. "The party sounds fun," Rory said. "I'd love to go."

"Cool," Jess said with a smile, fiddling with a sugar packet. "Hey, I bet I can push this through the table."

"You can?"

"Sure," Jess said, setting a salt shaker on top of it. "You need something flat to push it through," he explained. He laid his napkin over top of the salt shaker and hit the top of it, but when he moved the salt shaker the sugar packet was still on the table. "Huh. Hand me another packet, one of the blue ones."

"You think Equal will be easier to push through solid wood than real sugar?" Rory asked, handing him the packet.

"Maybe," Jess said, setting the shaker back on top. When he pushed down on it the napkin flattened on the table. When he picked it up, the sugar was still there but the salt shaker was gone. "Huh. I think I did it wrong."

"Now I'm going to have to put sugar on my fries," Rory said. "You know, when you cover up what you're doing with a napkin it looks very suspicious."

"But you were focusing on the sugar packet, right? You didn't even notice when I dropped the salt shaker."

Rory had to admit he was right. It was a pretty cool trick. "I didn't picture you being into magic tricks," she said. Learning magic tricks seemed so supremely dorky that she couldn't even imagine him sitting down to try.

Jess shrugged. "You've got to keep people on their toes," he said. "My dad told me that people should never feel totally comfortable around you."

"That's some advice," Rory said, thinking about her mom. She felt more comfortable around Lorelai than she did around anyone else in the world. "Are magic tricks his way of accomplishing that?"

"No, he's just really passive aggressive and manipulative." Jess said it casually, but Rory felt kind of bad for him. She didn't know anything about his dad, but passive aggressive and manipulative weren't exactly compliments. "He owns a lot of businesses. Newspapers," Jess added by way of explanation. "He's used to dealing with staff, not his kids."

Rory had no idea what to say to that. "My mom's working on opening an inn," she said. "Businesses are definitely stressful. So, is that why you're on the paper? So you can have your own papers someday too?"

"That's the idea," Jess said. "I haven't really figured out a way to tell my dad I don't actually want to do that, but I figure I've got some time to figure that out before he sticks me in a suit in a boardroom."

So now Rory knew something about Jess besides his name. He liked magic tricks, not journalism. "What do you want to do instead?"

"I don't know. Something, probably."

"A great alternative to nothing," Rory said. "I'd rather write for a paper than run one."

"I like writing fine, but I don't really like the journalism format. It's too structured. There are too many rules."

Rory could understand that. It was a little jarring to switch from writing essays and things to writing news stories, where the information was usually in an entirely different order. She had never been one for writing fiction or anything, but she'd had plenty of papers to write at Chilton that were a lot different than her articles for the Franklin. "That makes sense," she said, though her attention was momentarily stolen by the incredible looking burger their waitress set down in front of her. "Wow, this looks amazing."

"I told you they have good burgers," Jess said, adding salt and pepper to his fries. Rory hadn't even noticed him put the shaker back on the table. "You want the ketchup?"

"Yes, please," Rory said. As she added some to her fries, she took a moment to reflect on the date. So far, so good. The food was great, and there hadn't been any weird lulls in their conversation. She didn't know much about his family and she wasn't even sure where he was from, but skipping the small talk in favor of actual conversation was always a plus in her book. Not to mention the fact that he'd already asked her out again and the date wasn't even over yet. She desperately wanted to know why he would do that since he didn't even really know her, but she was hardly going to ask him. It didn't make much sense, but she wasn't going to push her luck. If Jess liked her then that was 100% okay with her.


	10. Anything You Need To Say

"How was your date?" Paris asked when Rory got home later that evening. Rory couldn't imagine her actually waiting up to hear about her date, but she was in the living room nonetheless.

"My date?" Even though she had asked, Rory couldn't quite believe that Paris wanted to sit around and talk about boys.

"You were on a date, right? You didn't just sit around and talk about the paper, did you?" Paris sounded disgusted, which felt a lot more comfortable than her eagerness to discuss Rory's evening.

Now that she knew Paris hadn't been replaced with a pod person, Rory decided to humor her. "Yes, it was a date," she said, untying her shoes. "It was really nice." For as nervous as she had been in the days and hours leading up to the date, she hadn't felt freaked out or uncomfortable all evening. Talking with Jess had felt totally natural, and he seemed just as interested in her as she was in him.

"Nice? Nice is how you describe the weather, Rory."

"Well, what kind of details are you looking for?" Rory asked. "We went out to dinner and talked. We didn't go skydiving or anything."

"Did you kiss him?"

Rory blushed. "Maybe," she said, which wasn't technically a lie. If she was telling the whole and complete truth, it had looked like Jess was going in for a kiss and Rory had kind of panicked. Jess had ended up kissing her cheek, which would have been unbearably cute if it wasn't just a result of Rory freaking out and avoiding the intended act. "A lady doesn't kiss and tell."

Shockingly, Paris actually seemed to accept that answer, but she looked skeptical. "I didn't think Jess was interested in 'ladies'. Have you seen the guys he hangs out with? I don't think any of them are looking for girls that are particularly ladylike."

"I don't know a lot about his friends," Rory admitted. "I'm going to his friend's Halloween party with him next week, though. He invited me tonight."

"He runs with a pretty exclusive crowd," Paris said, sounding a little bit impressed. "I didn't think outsiders were allowed at parties."

Rory hated it when Paris clearly knew more than she did but didn't offer to spill. If she didn't say something, Paris was liable to drop hints about something all night long and never tell Rory what they meant. "Okay, enough of that. The guys he hangs out with? Exclusive crowd? Is Jess in the mafia or something?" Funnily enough, he hadn't mentioned any mob ties on their date. Maybe that was a second or third date kind of admission.

"Close enough," Paris said. "Have you heard of The Life and Death Brigade? It's a secret society that dates back practically since Yale was founded. Your boy Jess is a member, and probably a pretty important one based on his background."

"So it's a secret society, but you know it exists and that Jess is in it? That doesn't sound real," Rory said. She was willing to concede that Paris might know more about Yale's history than she did, but in everything she had seen about Yale Rory had never come across a secret society called The Life and Death Brigade.

"Oh, it's real," Paris said. "Jess' family has been in it for generations. I could only trace it back to his grandfather, but it might go back further."

"What were you doing while I was on my date?" Rory asked, astonished. "Were you scouring his family history online or something?"

Paris looked like she thought that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. "I found an old article about The Life and Death Brigade in the Daily News archives a couple of weeks ago and it mentioned his grandfather. Tradition runs very deep in families like his, so I assume his dad was in it, which would mean Jess is in it. And I've heard plenty of rumors about them, of course. Apparently last year three members got arrested for trying to make ecstasy in one of the chem labs."

"Oh jeez," Rory grumbled. "Even if that is true, I don't think Jess is into that kind of stuff. I kind of got the sense at dinner that he doesn't really care about what his dad wants him to do."

"Huntzberger is a pretty big name," Paris argued. "I bet Jess is the head of the group."

"You need to check your dosage," Rory said. "For the record, I don't believe you at all. But why didn't you tell me any of this before I went out with him?"

"I wanted you to form your own opinion of him," Paris said generously. "But just so you know, these kinds of guys aren't into going out to dinner and the movies. They want to get drunk on expensive whiskey at the bar and then go home with whatever girl is dumb enough to be charmed by their abrasive pickup lines. And they want the girl gone before breakfast the next day so they can smoke pot in their $50 boxers in peace."

Rory snorted. "That's a nice picture," she said. "That doesn't sound like anyone's real life, but it's a good picture anyway."

"Oh my god, you're naïve," Paris said. "Look, I know you're from small town USA where everyone drives a sensible car and buys food at Walmart instead of Whole Foods, but a lot of people here aren't like that. They have stupid amounts of their parents' money, and they do stupid things with it. This is one of those stupid things."

At first it had been easy to say she couldn't relate to the wealth and casual hookups at Yale, but that was because she didn't personally know anyone that had either of those things. Paris' family had money, sure, but she never acted like it. Yes, she had a nice car and computer and things, but she wasn't one for every day extravagances like fancy restaurants or sipping champagne instead of cheap wine coolers. Jess hadn't acted like part of that crowd at dinner either, but if anything Paris said true…

Rory had been on cloud nine after her date, but when she went to bed that night she stared aimlessly at the ceiling for a long time. Was Jess the exception in the crowd of secret society members, or had he just acted like it on her date? He struck Rory as a genuine person, but leave it to Paris to make her question that. One way or another, she was going to find out more about him. And a Halloween party with his "exclusive" group of friends would be a good start.


	11. Come Out And Say It

A/N: Full disclosure, I've only seen the first season of American Horror Story. The second and third seasons just didn't do it for me. Also, this chapter technically takes place in the future? That's a weird thing to think about. This chapter didn't really need an author's note but I was waiting for a job interview for a very long time earlier so I haven't done enough needless talking today. Oh, I am sorry this chapter isn't actually the party, though. I like Rory and Jess' interactions, but I like Rory and Lorelai's too.

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><p>That next week went by quickly, and very strangely. Normally Rory enjoyed her classes, but she found herself daydreaming more often than not. Finn's Halloween party was on Friday night, which meant that she only had a few days to figure out what to wear to his party. Rory, a girl who had never previously cared much for clothes and enjoyed having a school uniform, was stressing over an outfit. Her mother would have been proud, but it was like an out of body experience for Rory.<p>

"The thing is, most of the people in American Horror Story are just regular people," Rory said to Paris on Wednesday evening, looking at an American Horror Story blog for inspiration. She had watched all three seasons, but she hadn't paid much attention to the characters' wardrobes.

"Just go as the woman from the new season with three boobs," Paris suggested.

"I'm not sure where I would get a third boob," Rory said. "Anyway, all of my bras only come equipped for two. What can I wear that I already own, but would make me recognizable as a character from the show?"

"Fake blood?" Paris suggested. Considering she had never seen the show beyond the first couple episodes of the current season, she wasn't really the one to ask for advice. Rory was kind of tapped, though. The party was in two days and she didn't have the time or money to go shopping.

Rory just shook her head, clicking on a link. "Hey, here are a bunch of Polyvore sets based on Violet's outfits! I could probably come up with something like one of these. Do you have a big floppy hat I could borrow?"

Paris snorted. "Yeah, it's in my closet between my feather boa and Chilton uniform."

"Never mind," Rory said, reaching for her phone. She had been avoiding telling her mom about her second date with Jess, but her mom would probably give her better outfit advice than Paris. "If you were dressing up as Violet Harmon, what would you wear?" she asked when her mom answered the phone.

"Fake flies?" Lorelai suggested. "Why, are you suddenly in need of a new fashion icon?"

"It's for a Halloween party," Rory said. "The theme is American Horror story, which is a great theme on the surface but it's really hard to identifiably dress up as a regular teenager. I was thinking of going as Violet."

"How boring," Lorelai said. "I know, go as the maid! The old version. You can get some of those creepy contacts that make you look blind. Or, go as the young version of the maid right after she got shot. That is very Halloween."

Rory sighed, clicking through more Polyvore sets. "I don't have time to go shopping for a slutty maid costume," she said. "Besides, I don't think that would be appropriate for the party anyway."

"Why, got a hot date?" Lorelai teased. When Rory didn't say anything, she gasped. "You do have a date! Is it with Marty? Please tell me it's with Marty."

"It's with Jess," Rory said, cringing.

"Ack," Lorelai said succinctly. "I was really hoping the first date was a fluke after you completely failed to tell me about it afterward."

"I meant to," Rory said lamely. "I got busy, though. And I didn't think you would want to hear about it, since you told me not to go in the first place."

"I didn't tell you not to go," Lorelai protested. "I just don't think that you should date your co-workers, or people your grandmother approves of."

"Well, he's nice," Rory said. "And he invited me to his friend's Halloween party, so I said yes. A party is hardly even a date."

Lorelai exhaled loudly. "I guess not," she said, although she didn't sound like she believed Rory. "Okay, wear your navy dress with the flowers, your brown cardigan, black tights and your combat boots."

"Does that even match?" Rory wondered. "My boots are brown. Black and brown together?"

"Hey, I'm just giving you a suggestion," Lorelai said.

"What about my yellow cardigan instead?" Rory suggested. "With my purple flowered skirt and a brown tank top under the sweater?"

"That doesn't solve the problem of black tights with brown boots," Paris said, finally offering some real fashion advice. Rory ignored her. From what she could tell, tights were kind of Violet's thing and the only ones Rory had were black.

"Cuter," Lorelai agreed. "I forgot about the purple skirt."

"Grandma said it looked cute at dinner once and complimented you for picking it out, so I didn't wear it again," Rory said, remembering the conversation.

"That's right. That was a very uncomfortable evening. I never know what to do when my mother compliments me." There was a crash on the other end of the line. "Hey babe, I gotta go. I'm still at work and I think something just exploded in the kitchen."

"Say hi to Sookie for me," Rory said before her mom hung up. "So, I guess I've got an outfit the party now."

Paris didn't even look up from her text book. "Black tights don't go with brown boots. Or a brown shirt. Don't you have regular nylons?"

"It's a costume," Rory pointed out. "I'm trying to be recognizable as a character."

"I think most people will just think you don't know how to pick out your own clothes," Paris said.

"Okay, tell me the truth. Is that a really bad costume idea?" Rory thought she had put together a pretty decent costume with what she had on hand, but she was still a little bit worried. She hadn't given Jess' friends a single thought until Paris mentioned how "exclusive" the group was. Now she was nervous about fitting in, or at least looking the part.

Paris shrugged. "You'll be cute," she conceded. "But I think the other girls will probably be going for costumes that are a little more… mature."

"Right," Rory said with a sigh. Her flowered skirt came down to her knees. Hopefully Paris was exaggerating about Jess' friends. Then again, it was a Halloween party on a college campus. The best she could hope for was Jess wearing an equally understated costume. Or a dark corner she could hide in.


	12. Know That You Are Safe Here

A/N: Holy long chapter, Batman! Yes, it's finally party time. Fittingly, I'm watching the new American Horror Story as I post this. I'm not sure how I feel about this season yet. Creepy clowns are so not my thing. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story! You guys are seriously the ones that keep the story going. If it wasn't for you, I would've gotten distracted by Netflix like six chapters ago.

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><p>"How do I look?" Rory asked, straightening out her cardigan for the tenth time since getting dressed.<p>

Paris looked at her appraisingly. "Ridiculous," she declared. "I think Jamie could match his clothes better."

She should have known better. "It's a costume party, not Fashion Week," Rory said. "Anyway, I don't have time to come up with something else. Jess will be here in like five minutes." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, someone knocked on the door. "Jess is here now," she corrected herself.

"You need me to get that?" Paris asked.

Rory shook her head. "No, Snarky," she said, tucking her room key in the pocket of her skirt. She didn't go to a lot of parties (or any), but she always remembered her mom's rule about not taking along a purse. "I can get it." She had gone out with Jess once without inciting any disasters, so she felt confident that she could at least answer a door properly this time around.

Jess looked incredible. Even though it was a costume party, he still looked like himself in a striped tee and a bulky black jacket. It was comforting, since her own costume was fairly lackluster. "You decided to skip the skull makeup?" she asked. It didn't escape her notice that technically they had a couple's costume thing going on, but she decided not to mention it.

"I didn't think going as a school shooter was the best idea," Jess said. "But I guess I still kind of am."

"The ghost of a school shooter," Rory corrected him. "I like the t-shirt. It makes up for the fact that Tate was blond."

Jess looked satisfied with her approval. "I already had the jacket, but I figured a t-shirt with stripes would be more recognizable so I had to go buy one."

Rory was kind of impressed that he had actually put some effort into his outfit, even if it was simple. She had kind of figured he would throw any old thing on. He didn't seem like the costume type. "You can walk around with your fingers crossed like lobster hands and then you can be two Evan Peters characters," she suggested, demonstrating with her own hands.

Jess shuddered. "No thanks. Is that a thing in the new season?"

"You haven't seen it?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I only watched the first season. Sort of."

"Oh my god," Rory said, looking at him critically. "Do you hate American Horror Story?"

Jess held up his hands in surrender, but he was smiling. "Cuff me, officer. I tried to watch it, but it's so creepy."

"It was your idea though!" Rory said, shoving his arm.

"Hey, I would have suggested anything to get Finn to change the theme," Jess said. "I saw enough of the first season to figure I could go as Tate, so I thought it was a good idea. Costume parties aren't really my thing."

_I knew it_, Rory thought as they turned down a street that led off campus. "You're not a theme person?"

"Not so much," Jess said.

"I love themes," Rory said. It wasn't surprising, since everything in Stars Hollow had a theme. "My mom and I always do themed movie nights when I'm home." She hesitated, wondering if it was the right time to bring up something that had been bothering her since Saturday. "What about the Life and Death Brigade, though? Aren't you guys all about the big theme-y stunts?" she asked. She wanted to know about it, but she didn't want to get into it during the party. For a second she wondered if she shouldn't have mentioned it at all. What if Paris had been wrong?

To Jess' credit, he looked completely casual. If he had looked uncomfortable or defensive she would have felt awkward, but his body language wasn't setting off any danger, Will Robinson alarms. "I was wondering if you had heard about that," Jess said. "They used to do big stunts for a while, but now people just don't want to make the effort." He shrugged. "It's cool with me. I hate all that stuff, but it's kind of a Huntzberger family tradition."

"I didn't really have you pegged as a joiner," Rory said, nodding. It was nice to know he wasn't totally hardcore about the group. She didn't know him well, but she felt like she knew him enough. "That sounds kind of awful."

"Our last thing was a party on a boat," Jess said. "That wasn't so bad, if you overlooked all the drunk girls puking over the side."

Rory wrinkled her nose. "Gross. But I meant just doing it because it's a tradition. It kind of sucks all the fun out of traditions."

"True enough," Jess said easily, leading her to a big apartment building. Rory was starting to think it was impossible to get Jess riled up. He was Mr. Cool and Collected all the time. It made having conversations easy, but she wondered if there was anything he really cared about or he just kind of rode the waves through life.

She decided to let the topic go for now. Rory got the sense that he didn't really like talking about his family, and a Halloween party wasn't the best place to push the topic. "This is where Finn lives?" she asked instead, looking at the stately building. It was nicer than any building in Stars Hollow, that was for sure. She hadn't been impressed by New Haven when she visited the city with her mom and grandparents, but it didn't all look like the soggy coffee grounds as the bottom of the pot like her mom had suggested.

"Top floor," Jess said. "His dad owns the building." As soon as he pushed open the door, Rory felt sorry for anyone else living there. Even in the lobby she could hear the bass thumping from upstairs. "It's stopped him from getting cited for noise pollution a time or two," he explained.

"Go Finn," Rory said, instantly annoyed with herself for sounding so bitter. She couldn't help it, though. Even though she didn't know Finn, she wasn't a general fan of people thinking they were entitled to things just because Daddy was important. There had been people like that at Chilton and there were plenty of them at Yale.

Jess didn't miss her sarcasm. "He's a good guy," he insisted. "He comes on a little strong, but you'll get used to him."

It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but Rory liked that Jess said she would get used to him. It implied that she would be hanging around Finn—and Jess—more in the future. As they rode the elevator up the music got louder, and was joined by people's voices. "Sounds like a lot of people," Rory said lightly, feeling more nervous by the second. Jess didn't look concerned, but she was. She had spent all week psyching herself up for the party, and now she was seconds away from being in a room filled with people that she didn't know. Jess seemed to understand how she felt, because he put an arm around her waist as the elevator doors opened. It didn't make her less nervous, but she liked it.

The guy who opened the door looked almost exactly like Adam Levine, which was a little confusing. "Here he is, the man of honor," he said in what sounded like an Australian accent. "And someone I don't know. Have we met?"

"This is Rory Gilmore," Jess said, clapping his friend on the back. Rory never understood why guys did that. "Rory, this is Finn."

"Pleasure," Finn said. It seemed like he was looking right through her. Rory thought he was probably already more than a little drunk. "Have either of you seen Colin? He isn't here yet."

"Colin's over there, man," Jess said, pointing to a guy not ten feet away from them. "Hey, didn't anyone tell you this is a costume party?"

"I'm Adam Levine," Finn said, sounding insulted. "Colin said he didn't count since he only had a cameo in the second season, but Rosemary has already promised to clean the entire apartment if I leave her alone for the rest of the night so obviously it's a very powerful costume."

Jess shook his head as Finn sort of drifted away, looking completely aimless. "He always thinks something is going to happen with Rosemary and it never will," he said. "She's the blonde over there." Like Rory had suspected, she was one of several girls in a skimpy maid costume. She was talking to a girl who was probably also dressed as Violet, but the other Violet was in a denim miniskirt and fishnets. Paris had been right yet again.

"About time," another voice said from behind them. "Finn's been drunk since this afternoon. He keeps asking me where Behati is."

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Adam Levine's wife," Rory explained. "Behati Prinsloo. She's a Victoria's Secret model."

"Shame she isn't here, then," the other guy said. "This party could use some new girls. I'm Colin. And you are… Rory, right?"

"Right," she said, pleased that Jess had mentioned her to at least one friend.

"New girls?" Jess asked. "What happened to Sasha?"

Colin rolled his eyes and took a drink from someone walking by, despite the fact that the other person hadn't offered it to him. "I picked her up and she had blue eye makeup on and kept saying she was a pretty girl. I just had the cab drop me off at McDonald's and I walked the rest of the way here."

Jess laughed, but it sounded hollow. "You'll never change, will you?"

"I don't need to as long as Rosemary's around," Colin said. "I've called dibs on her tonight. I should go make sure she's got enough to drink, actually."

Rory looked at Jess curiously as they walked toward the bar that was set up in the living room. "So those are your friends," she said, feeling a little disappointed. Jess might have been down to earth and interesting, but his friends seemed like vapid girl chasers. "Did Colin really leave his date at McDonald's?"

"He does stuff like that all the time," Jess said. Rory didn't like the way he said it, like it was okay just because Colin did it all the time. "He's a good guy, though."

"He seems like an asshole," Rory said, surprising even herself with her candor. "I mean, I don't know him, but he doesn't make the best first impression."

"It's a party," Jess said, accepting two cans of Diet Coke from the bartender. "He's probably drunk.

"That excuses it," Rory muttered under her breath. They'd been there ten minutes and Rory was already regretting accepting his invitation. She liked Jess and she wanted to like his friends too, but they didn't seem like "good guys" to her. They seemed like jerks. It bothered her that Jess didn't seem to realize that.

For a few minutes they just stood around and drank their soda. Every time someone came up to Jess Rory would smile and say hi, then busy herself with her drink. They kept drifting farther from the bar, though, and eventually caught up with a group of girls who were standing around gossiping. "Jess!" a blonde exclaimed. "Finally, someone sane. Finn will not leave me alone."

"I wish Finn would bother me once in a while," another girl said, pouting. Her short black dress and blinged out cross necklace would have made a real nun pray for her soul. "Even Robert hasn't been paying any attention to me, and he brought me here!"

"This is Rosemary and Juliet," Jess said to Rory. "This is Rory."

"Cute skirt," Juliet said, without a hint of irony. "I wish my dress had pockets. I think my boobs are dented from putting my phone in my bra."

Jess rolled his eyes, but Rory smiled. At least a couple of Jess' friends seemed friendly. "I had no idea what to wear," she admitted. "I'm not really a costume party kind of person."

"I've never even seen American Horror Story," Rosemary said. "I just saw there was a maid in it. I don't even know who anyone here is supposed to be, besides Finn's ridiculous Levine costume. Did you check out those tattoo sleeves?"

"I think Colin and Robert are supposed to be the gay couple from Murder House. That's the only explanation I can think of for Colin's weird hipster frames," Juliet said. "I have the whole new season of the show piled up on my DVR and I have no idea when I'm going to watch them." She tried to take a sip of her drink and frowned. "Glass is empty," she announced. "I'll be back." As she walked toward the bar she weaved back and forth on her high heels.

Rosemary shook her head. "She was drunk after her first drink," she said. "Juliet doesn't eat. She'll probably wake up on Finn's bathroom floor very confused tomorrow afternoon. So, do I know you from somewhere?"

"Probably not," Rory said. "I'm on the paper with Jess."

"Jess," Rosemary said, nodding knowingly. "Many have tried, many have failed."

Rory looked over at Jess, but he was talking to someone Rory hadn't been introduced to and wasn't paying any attention to them. "What do you mean?"

"The guys here are all the same," Rosemary said, leaning toward Rory. "Colin and Finn will hit on any girl that's breathing, and they're successful a shocking amount of the time. I think Finn's Australian accent helps him out, but Jess is obviously the best looking of the Three Musketeers and I've never even seen him with a girl. Honestly, I don't know why he even hangs around these guys. He's nothing like them." She took a sip of her drink. "He's kinda boring. No offense."

"None taken," Rory said, mulling over the new information. It was nice to hear that Jess wasn't like his friends, but it made it all the more puzzlingly. "I kind of noticed that already. How did he get in with these guys?"

"Their dads were all friends or something," Rosemary said, waving her hand vaguely. "They met in the Life and Death Brigade… I probably shouldn't have told you that." Rosemary didn't seem concerned when Rory told her she already knew about the group. Paris had probably overreacted when she said it was a big secret. "Honestly, I keep waiting for Jess to defect or something," she continued. "Everyone there loves him, but he doesn't fit in at all. The other guys are always trying to one-up each other and making things bigger and badder and Jess will be off reading a book somewhere or something. If he likes you, I'd keep an eye on him. That's very unusual for Sir Huntzberger."

Rosemary kind of drifted away after that saying something about finding Juliet, which was too bad. Aside from Jess, she was already Rory's favorite person at the party. Not only had she talked to her like an equal, but she had given her some very valuable insights into Jess' social life. When Jess joined her again, she was feeling much better than she had at the beginning of the evening.

"Rosemary and Juliet seem nice," she said as they walked toward the bar for more soda. They seemed to be the only people at the party not drinking, but that was fine with her.

"Yeah, they're cool," Jess said. "I always feel kind of bad for them. Finn is always after them. They're not afraid to turn him down, though."

"Finn seems pretty harmless," Rory said. She actually thought he seemed pretty strange and unnecessarily forward, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. If Rosemary and Juliet didn't mind him then why should she? She wasn't the one he was hitting on, after all. "What are the odds we'll actually see him again tonight?"

"Probably slim," Jess admitted. "He tends to lose his mind at these kind of things. Literally. I'm sure he's had more to drink than anyone here tonight. Luckily, the more he drinks the more obnoxious he gets, so I don't think any girls are in danger of actually falling for his ridiculous lines."

As they waited for their drinks, Rory surveyed the room again. Juliet gave her a tipsy wave from across the crowd, and Rory waved back. "You've got an interesting group of friends," she said.

"Yeah, they're alright," Jess said, but he sounded pleased. "You like them?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Maybe," she said. "I might have to hang out with them a little bit more."

"Yeah?" Jess gave her a lopsided smile. "We could probably arrange that."

Rory leaned into Jess' shoulder, remembering what Rosemary said about him never really being with other girls. It made her feel special, as stupid as that sounded. "Sounds good to me," she said. She felt much more relaxed than she had all night, and it had only taken a conversation with a girl in the shortest skirt ever to make it happen.


	13. In My Arms

A/N: Now that I posted about the Halloween party, Thanksgiving is next week already. Oh well. Truth be told, I'm still trying to figure out a more solid direction for this story. As it turns out, "Jess and Rory" isn't actually a real plot. Who knew? Don't worry, I'm not leaving this story behind!

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><p>The Halloween party sparked something dangerous in Rory. Suddenly, she had gone from being the girl who was perfectly fine being single to the girl who wanted to spend every single second with a guy. She wasn't sure if she could officially call Jess her boyfriend or if they were even dating exclusively, but she had no interest in seeing anyone else and hoped Jess felt the same way. If what Rosemary had said at the party was true, Rory didn't think she had to worry about Jess finding some other girl. The way Jess rubbed her back while they laid on her bed was similarly reassuring.<p>

Jess said he had work to do for the paper but Rory had insisted that he come over anyway. Just being in the same room with him was comforting, even when they were doing their own thing. Jess was editing articles for the paper on his laptop, but every now and then he would reach over and stroke Rory's hair or look at the book she was reading.

"I can tell when you're doing that, you know," Rory said, turning a page in her book. "Are you waiting for me to get to the good part or something?" She was taking a Russian literature class and they had been assigned a Chernychevsky novel that Rory could just not get into. Jess had taken the same class the year before so he had already read the book, and kept looking over Rory's shoulder to see what part she was at. She had already made a mental note never to do that to anyone again, because it was getting slightly annoying. It was a good thing Jess was so cute.

"Nah, there isn't really a good part," Jess said. "I liked The Brothers Karamazov better. Are you reading that when you talk about Dostoyevsky?"

"I think we might be reading Crime and Punishment instead, although that's kind of mainstream by now," Rory said. She had read it in high school and enjoyed it, but she hoped her class would expose her to new books. As she finished the chapter she was on she slid a bookmark into the novel and tossed it on her nightstand. "Can I convince you to continue this conversation over some lunch?" she asked. Her stomach had been growling for half an hour, but she had been comfortable.

"Or we could start a conversation that's not about politically charged Russian authors," Jess suggested. "Over lunch."

"Lunch was the important part there," Rory said, walking to her closet to dig out her shoes. Paris refused to let them keep their shoes by front door, and she sniffed pointedly every time Rory left them out in their bedroom. She said between the binge drinking and indiscriminate sex, college campuses were cesspools just waiting to get everyone sick. Rory failed to see how leaving her shoes in the common room added to the rampant filth of college life, but she had learned long ago that some things weren't worth arguing over when it came to Paris. "Do you want to go somewhere other than the dining hall? I think their lunch special today is meatloaf," she said, wrinkling her nose.

Jess shut down his laptop and grabbed his coat off Rory's desk chair. "We can go wherever you want," he said.

"Would you kill me if I said Hector's?" They had already been to Hector's that week, but Rory couldn't get enough of their tacos. She had no idea what they were spicing their beef with but she was fairly sure it couldn't be legal. Rory gave Jess an angelic smile, knowing there was no way he'd say no.

He sighed, but nodded. "But do not order the platter of tacos again," he warned her. "I've still got a couple of them in my fridge."

"Sixteen tacos seemed like a perfectly reasonable amount at the time," Rory said, even though she had tapped out after eating four. She had eat the remaining four that night while she was studying, pleased to find out that they held up pretty well even when eaten cold. "But out of deference to you and your slightly bizarre health-consciousness, I will order something different."

"Not wanting to eat eight tacos in one sitting has nothing to do with being health-conscious," Jess said. "I think that's just considered being a normal person."

Rory shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said as they walked out of the dorm. "I think today's going to be the day I try the jalapeno surprise taco."

Jess winced. "Why would you order anything with the word surprise in it?"

"It's like a present," Rory explained, slipping her hand into his. "The surprise might be the jalapenos, or it might be slathered in cream cheese or something."

"If it has jalapeno in the name that's probably not the surprise," Jess said. "I'll stick with the chicken burrito."

Rory looked at him blankly. "Why? You know they make burritos with beef, right?" She appreciated chicken, especially in its nugget or tender form, but chicken had no place in a burrito.

"Hey, I like chicken even when it hasn't been breaded and deep-fried," Jess said. "You should try it grilled on a salad sometime." Rory just shook her head sadly.

"You are so lucky I like you, because that was the worst suggestion anyone has ever made," she said. "That was the saddest thing I've heard a person say since I heard Robin Williams died."

"Oh come on, you cannot compare a salad with grilled chicken to Robin Williams dying," Jess said as they walked into Hector's. He got a strange look from the people sitting at the table closest to the door.

Rory giggled. "They think you're weird now," she said.

"You did that on purpose!" Jess argued. "You were the one talking about Robin Williams and now I'm the jerk because it looks like _I _was the one comparing him to salad."

For a minute they were preoccupied with ordering their food, but once they sat down with their tacos and burritos Rory smiled and poked him with a straw. "Be honest, you're totally regretting taking me to a public place," she said.

"I wasn't until you ordered that," Jess said, nodding at her taco. Apparently the "surprise" part of the jalapeno surprise taco was an unholy amount of sour cream and verde salsa. "That looks disgusting."

"I can get a box and take it to my room to eat by myself," Rory suggested. "That way you won't have to be seen with me while I eat it." She wasn't serious, of course, but she knew Jess wouldn't take her seriously.

He raised an eyebrow. "So I'm forced to picture you sitting in your room, eating the world's grossest taco all alone? Not likely." He took a bite of his burrito and seemed to enjoy it, despite the fact that it was lacking a decent filling. "Besides, I kind of like you here."

Rory looked up at him, feeling a little shy all of the sudden. "I kind of like me here too," she said. She gave Jess a small grin, and he smiled back. Hopefully, she would be there for a long time.


End file.
